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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25606234">soft and warm like mash potato</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/QhaZomb/pseuds/QhaZomb'>QhaZomb</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>HLVRAI - Fandom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cuddling &amp; Snuggling, Gordon is soft. Benry likes to squish soft things. Match made in heaven, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 07:07:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,652</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25606234</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/QhaZomb/pseuds/QhaZomb</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Benrey can't get over how soft and squishy Gordon is, especially around the middle. Makes cuddle time extra nice. Like hugging a giant teddy bear. But like, if the bear was full of meat instead of polyfill.</p><p>...Okay, that analogy got a little fucked in the end there. Whatever. You get the idea.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Benrey/Gordon Freeman</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>404</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>soft and warm like mash potato</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hi, I'm fat and gay and full of yearning. So naturally, that means I should live vicariously through my comfort characters.</p><p>Rated teen for swearing and stuff.</p><p>edit: in an attempt to feel less embarrassed about this stuff, i'm taking this off anon. hopefully i don't regret it :')</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>  There were a lot of things that humans needed to do that Benrey didn't. Sleeping was one of those things. Like, yeah, he could sleep if he <em>wanted</em> to, but he didn't <em>need</em> to. And so, he often didn't.<br/><br/><br/>  Mainly because if he did sleep, he'd miss out on one of his favorite nightly sights.<br/><br/><br/>  Despite not needing to sleep, he still got into bed to cuddle up with Gordon every night. 'Cause like, it's his BOYFRIEND, of COURSE he's gonna fuckin' cuddle with him. He's not stupid! ...Well okay, maybe he kinda is. But that's not the point here. The point here is, he loves Gordon and he loves cuddling with Gordon and he loves seeing Gordon look all peaceful and shit when asleep.<br/><br/><br/>  Even before they officially hooked up, he would sit on the nearby dresser and watch Gordon sleep. Until Gordon found out, that is, and informed the eldritch being how god damn creepy that apparently was. Which is kinda weird, since him and the rest of the Science Team were all totally chill with Benrey watching them back in Black Mesa.<br/><br/><br/>  "We were in the middle of a fucking alien apocalypse. We needed a look out for safety reasons," Gordon had explained.<br/><br/><br/>  "yeah well maybe you still need a look out," Benrey retorted.<br/><br/><br/>  "I'm pretty sure I don't, Benrey," Gorden then grumbled.<br/><br/><br/>  "wow uh, indecisive much? first you want a look out, and now you don't? can't even... can't even make up your own mind. 'm gettin' so many mixed messages, dude. why you gotta be so confusing all the time, man?"<br/><br/><br/>  Gordon just yelled a whole bunch after that, Benrey finding the reaction funny as always, but not really absorbing anything he said other than the <em>'stop fucking watching me sleep'</em> he ended his rant with. For once, Benrey actually listened, having remembered that he's supposed to be trying to get on better terms with the guy. Didn't mean he was happy about it, though. <em>Humans and their weirdass hangups...</em><br/><br/><br/>  After their relationship <em>finally</em> started to get better, so much so that they eventually started officially dating(!!!), Benrey was SO happy to find out Gordon didn't mind him watching him sleep anymore. Apparently it's also okay when you're dating the other person, not just when somebody needs to be a look out during alien apocalypses. Now, whenever Gordon wakes up to see the not-a-man looking at him fondly with his big dark eyes, Gordon just smiles.<br/><br/><br/>  And occasionally gets a face full of pink Sweet Voice immediately after.<br/><br/><br/>  Whoops.<br/><br/><br/>  Luckily, Gordon likes the taste of strawberry more than blue raspberry, apparently. Probably also helps that, thanks to Tommy, Gordon knows that the fruity pink light balls are a sign of Benrey's gay little heart exploding at the sight of him. And BOY, does it. How can it not? Have you SEEN Gordon Freeman? With his emerald green eyes, and those striking silver streaks through his long auburn hair, and his soft warm skin peppered with freckles, and the way his face lights up when he laughs, and and <strong>and</strong>-<br/><br/><br/>  Yeah, Benrey was in <em>real</em> fuckin' deep.<br/><br/><br/>  And thus, here he is. Eldritch abomination from worlds in-between, laying in bed with a nerdy human theoretical physicist, and loving every minute of it.<br/><br/><br/>  Benrey can't see the clock from where he is (and doesn't really care enough to look at anything that isn't Gordon right now anyway), so he's not sure what time it is. But he thiiiiiinks it's close to morning? The lighting in the room is a tiny bit brighter than it was a few minutes ago, which means the sun is starting to rise and shine through the window blinds. Still gonna be a while before Gordon's gonna wanna wake up, though, which allows Benrey to continue savoring the sight before him.<br/><br/><br/>  He'd gotten out of bed a little while ago to go assert his dominance over some raccoons that were getting roudy outside, and had neglected to completely re-cover Gordon's sleeping form with the comforter. Which is fine, not like it's cold, especially with the both of them in the bed together. Besides, now there's even more of Gordon in view. Slowly, Benrey moves a hand over to gently touch the human's cheek. Gordon makes a little sound in his sleep, but Benrey's not worried about him waking up. He just does that sometimes.<br/><br/><br/>  The entity marvels at the stark contrast between his pale, unnaturally colored skin and Gordon's comparatively darker, regular ol' human skin. He's not sure why, but there's just something so fascinating about how drastically different his and Gordon's looks are. In addition to skin color, Gordon's also taller than him (when Benrey's in his 'default' human state), his hair is longer and softer, he's got a nicely groomed beard while Benrey's usually clean shaven, and he's just in general <em>bigger</em>. Benrey's not exactly scrawny by any means, but he's still very lacking in the pudge department, unlike Gordon, who's got it in abundance.<br/><br/><br/>  It looks really good on him.<br/><br/><br/>  Benrey lets his eyes drift down to Gordon's middle. The old t-shirt he's sleeping in has ridden up on him, showing his belly. Benrey watches for a minute as it gently rises and falls with the human's breathing. He moves his hand away from Gordon's face to instead let it rest on the side of his exposed gut. Gordon makes another little sound, but still shows no signs of waking, even when Benrey gently presses his fingers into the soft flesh. Benrey can't get over how soft and squishy Gordon is, especially around the middle. Makes cuddle time extra nice. Like hugging a giant teddy bear. But like, if the bear was full of meat instead of polyfill.<br/><br/><br/>  ...Okay, that analogy got a little fucked in the end there. Whatever. You get the idea. Let's just focus more on how great Gordon is to smoosh. <em>Squish, smoosh, squish, smoosh...</em><br/><br/><br/>  Benrey is focusing so much on that feeling, that he almost doesn't notice when Gordon starts to stir proper. He pulls his hand away just as the human's eyes lazily flutter open, a 'still not really awake yet' look in them. Still smiles at his weird alien boyfriend, though.<br/><br/><br/>  "Mornin'," Gordon mumbles out. A noise wells up in Benrey's throat, along with a distinct strawberry taste, but he manages to swallow it back down before it spills out of his mouth. At least, until Gordon reaches out to gently cup the side of his face. <em>Aw, fuck.</em><br/><br/><br/>  Gordon sputters as the string of bright pink balls of light splatter onto his face. He pushes himself up into a sitting position while Benrey rolls over to lay face down, utterly embarrassed. You'd THINK he wouldn't be, with how many times this same exact shit has happened. And yet, here he is, <em>BBBBBBBBB</em>'ing into his pillow to avoid looking at the man he just accidentally vomited his emotions on. Again.<br/><br/><br/>  "Well if I wasn't awake yet, I definitely am now," Gordon says. He then reaches over and pats Benrey on the back. Benrey turns his head to look at Gordon once more, watching him as he raises his arms up to stretch. His back makes a real nice <em>POP</em> sound as he arches it back, and it apparently felt as nice as it sounded as Gordon lets out a satisfied sigh. He brings his arms back down, and rests one hand on his still exposed gut. Which means that he has just now realized that his belly's been on display this whole time. He looks down at it, and then to Benrey. "Were you messing with my stomach or somethin'?"<br/><br/><br/>  <em>Uhhhhhhhhh shit</em>. Benry just gives his usual '<em>no thoughts head empty</em>' stare for a moment before uttering out a "huh...?"<br/><br/><br/>  Gordon shakes his head. "Nevermind. You feel like eating something this morning?" he asks as he pulls his shirt back down.<br/><br/><br/>  "BBBBBBBBBBlueberry pamcakes," Benrey answers, emphasizing it with a few balls of teal. Though he mainly spat out the teal to try and override the leaf green relief he'd felt trying to sneak out.<br/><br/></p><p> </p><hr/><p><br/><br/><br/>  Gordon and Benrey hadn't been snuggled up to each other when the movie started. Nor had they noticed exactly when that had stopped being the case. However, much like Gordon waking up with Benrey staring at him and then barfing Sweet Voice in his face, this was a pretty damn common occurrence.<br/><br/><br/>  "yo, what if i separated my head and made it grow spider legs like that guy," Benrey said while gesturing to the scene currently playing out on the TV.<br/><br/><br/>  "That'd be fucking <em>horrifying</em>, Benrey," Gordon replies bluntly, but with a definite hint of amusement on his face.<br/><br/><br/>  Benrey rests his head on Gordon's shoulder as they watch a marvel of 80's practical effects get lit up with a flamethrower. Well, Gordon insists it's a marvel. Benrey doesn't really get it. Like, yeah, the puppets and stuff are kinda cool, but the both of them have seen WAY cooler shit in real life. Benrey <em>himself</em> is WAY cooler shit. Such a great cool, he could take all the stuff these puppets are doing and ramp it up to eleven, and it'd be REAL instead of, well, puppets. But, whatever. The fake monster puppets make Gordon happy, which is always a treat to see. The way the human's eyes practically sparkle when he goes on about them, or anything else he's super into is, just, so good. Though right now those eyes are for some reason on Benrey and not the TV? Whu- <em>O H  s h i t</em>.<br/><br/><br/>  Benrey immediately yanks his hand away after realizing that he's been absentmindedly grabbing at Gordon's stomach. He is now feeling like a deer in the headlights of an 18-wheeler.<br/><br/><br/>  "Dude, were you just <em>petting</em> me? ...That's what you were doing this morning, too, wasn't it?" Gordon asks. He doesn't sound at all mad, just surprised, but that still doesn't break Benrey out of his frozen state. When Gordon doesn't get an answer (or, well, <em>any</em> reaction) from Benrey, the entity just staying statue-still and looking like he's about to bolt, Gordon gently places a hand on the other's arm.<br/><br/><br/>  "Hey, man, relax! It's fine, really," he assures. Benrey's eyes move to the hand on his arm, then back up to Gordon's face. He opens his mouth to try and say something, but instead of words like he wanted, he just spits out a bunch of bright yellow orbs. He quickly slaps his hand over his mouth and averts his eyes from Gordon, who gives a small chuckle. Benrey ignores the chuckle and takes a moment to let the Sweet Voice chill the fuck out before looking back at the human and attempting to say actual words again.<br/><br/><br/>  "uh. that's... cool. yeah," Benrey says while trying to sound as nonchalant as he possibly can, and pretending that what happened just a bit ago did NOT actually happen. "cool as a fuckinnnnnnnn'... <em>cuke</em>, bro."<br/><br/><br/>  Gordon chuckles again and pulls Benrey back towards him before returning his gaze to the movie, not seeming to care about whatever scene they'd just missed (he's probably seen this movie like a bajillion times). Benrey meanwhile keeps his eyes on Gordon for a little longer. But he eventually does go back to watching the movie... and tentatively moves his hand to slip under Gordon's shirt and knead at his pudge again. When Gordon makes no move to stop him, Benrey finally fully relaxes again and slumps all his weight against his human boyfriend. His very soft and warm and cuddly human boyfriend.<br/><br/><br/></p><hr/><p><br/><br/><br/>  "You're like a big house cat, you know that?" Gordon asks Benrey, sounding pretty amused by his own observation.<br/><br/><br/>  The two of them are laying in bed- Gordon on his back with his shirt pulled up to expose his stomach, and Benrey using said stomach as a pillow and working his hands at the soft flesh like he was trying to make bread out of it. Benrey doesn't really answer his question, and just hums at him, looking totally blissed the fuck out.<br/><br/><br/>  "You're doing that kneading thing that cats do. And purring." <em>Oh shit was he purring?</em> He didn't even notice. Probably 'cause he's pouring just about all his focus into the sensations his hands are picking up. Benrey rolls his head over, now pressing his whole face into the human's belly. He feels the gentle rise and fall of Gordon's middle as he buries his face in it, and the sensation just has him feeling SO peaceful. If he was a creature that actually needed sleep, he'd probably be falling asleep right now. God, why's Gordon gotta be so fuckin' warm and soft and <em>perfect</em> and shit. Like, Benry always knew he was, but he never really appreciated just how MUCH he was until he found out Gordon was totally chill with this kind of attention and thus let the alien indulge himself.<br/><br/><br/>  "You think I'm perfect? Damn, dude, first time you give me an actual, genuine compliment and you go straight for the heavy-hitter stuff," Gordon chuckles.<br/><br/><br/>  <em>Oh FUCK he was talking out loud too?</em> "i dunno man i think you're hearing things. didn't say shit," Benrey tries to deflect. How the hell can Gordon even hear him with his face buried in his gut like this?<br/><br/><br/>  "Yeah, no, I'm pretty sure I heard you call me 'perfect'." Benrey's not looking at Gordon, but he can practically hear the smugass look on his face.<br/><br/><br/>  "yeah uh. perfect... perfect lame. major sucks. lamedon sucksman." <em>Fuckin' smooth, bro.</em><br/><br/><br/>  Gordon's still smiling when he gives an insulted sounding huff. "Well, if that's the case, then I guess we should break up now. Wouldn't wanna ruin your cred' by having such a <em>lame, sucks</em> boyfriend," he says. Gordon starts to move like he's going to sit up and shove Benrey off when the entity wraps his arms around Gordon's middle like he's hanging on for dear life.<br/><br/>  <br/>  "<em>nooooooooo-<strong>wuh</strong></em>," Benrey whines. "okay fine i was just- i was just joshin' bro. you're not lame. or sucks. you're actually, uh, nice. like, real nice. which is why i like you. 'n stuff."<br/><br/><br/>  "Yeah, I know."<br/><br/><br/>  "whu- then why'd you make me say it?" Benrey says, snapping his head up to finally look at Gordon's face again. There's a soft, fond look on the human's face and, while it doesn't stir up any Sweet Voice, it does make Benrey's insides do that little happy-squirmy-flippy-thingy.<br/><br/><br/>  "Because getting a genuine compliment out of you is like pulling teeth," Gordon answers. Benrey just huffs at him before he continues speaking. "But in all seriousness, I'm actually like, <em>really</em> flattered? I always figured I was just a solid 'average' honestly. Especially after packin' on the pounds from all that stress eating I went through a while back..."<br/><br/><br/>  Benrey is taken aback by that, honestly surprised by Gordon's confession. "man, what? why would you think that? i wouldn't be dating you if you were average. i got <em>super</em> high standards, y'know. and why would gaining a lil' weight make you less hot? that's dumb."<br/><br/><br/>  Gordon shrugs. "It's a human thing."<br/><br/><br/>  "it's a <em>dumb</em> thing."<br/><br/><br/>  Gordon chuckles, jostling Benrey's head where it rests. "Yeah, you're right, it is."<br/><br/><br/>  "well <em>duh</em>, i'm always right. so you better believe me when i say that you-" Benrey pauses for a moment, long enough to plant a loving smooch on the soft skin of Gordon's middle, "-are totally <em>perfect</em>, man."<br/><br/><br/>  A deep red blush quickly spreads across Gordon's face, which just puts a smugly satisfied look on Benrey's. However, since he doesn't wanna spoil the moment they got going on right now, he quickly turns his face back to nuzzle into his boyfriend's belly again. <em>Stupid Feetman, not knowing how gorgeous he is. Guess ol' Benny boy's gonna have to remind him more often, so he doesn't forget it.</em></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>what are you talking about, John Carpenter's The Thing is the PERFECT movie for a cute romantic date night!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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